Pure Google? Verizon sneaks two bloatware apps onto the Galaxy Nexus

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If you thought that buying the Galaxy Nexus would give you the Pure Google Experience that it’s marketed as, you would only be mostly right. While you will indeed get an unskinned version of Ice Cream Sandwich without any Let’s Golf 2 or NASCAR apps tagged on, Verizon apparently couldn’t resist the urge to add a little something. The carrier has managed to sneak a couple of bloatware apps onto the device, making this more of an almost pure Google Experience.

In several Galaxy Nexus promotional videos that were released this morning, it was noted that two Verizon apps — My Verizon Mobile and VZ Backup Assistant — appeared in the phone’s app drawer. At first, hope remained that maybe the apps don’t come preinstalled and were just being plugged in the video, but it has since been confirmed that they will indeed be on every handset.

It’s possible that Google made this concession due to the new bloatware removal tool that will be part of Ice Cream Sandwich. While the feature doesn’t actually remove crapware, it will disable it, remove it from the launcher, and block its resources from running.

Of course Nexus phones also serve as developer units, and rooters will be able to easily unlock the smartphone’s bootloader and install SuperUser. After this, it will be a cinch to permanently delete the extraneous apps.

While these two apps can potentially serve more of a practical purpose than most bloatware, their addition to the latest “Pure Google Experience” phone speaks to the immense power that the carriers hold. The Nexus line of phones has always been promoted as the best way to get a direct pipeline to the Android that is intended by Andy Rubin and company. Adding even two minor Verizon apps shows that the Nexus line isn’t quite as advertised anymore.